ENGL 102

September 12, 2019

ILA #2

My source is CBS News. The author is Rachel Layne, a freelance journalist. To find this

source I searched Google for “private prisons”. The first items to come up were not exactly

“popular commercial sources” and was more sources I have already found and addressed during

the last ILA. I had to add “news” onto the end of the search to find more commercial news

sources. I believe this source to be credible because first, CBS is an established and reputable

news source. Second, because they talked with people knowledgeable people who were involved

with the issue. The article had quotes from both the sides of the bankers and the private prison

companies themselves, as well as activists who do not support them. The article also provided

useful data.

The exigence of this source comes after the dropping stocks in private prisons as well as

banks and investors limited or stopping their financial support of private prison companies due to

an increase of public outrage and activism against private prisons. The Kairos of this source

comes as activist pressure spurs action. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, the executive director of

MomsRising.org, an organization against private prisons describes it as a "unique moment where

a wave of organizations are hearing from their members and that greater pressure is having an

impact." Activists are causing banks to rethink and abandon their partnership with private prison

companies. The main claim of this source is that pressure from activists are causing banks to stop

writing new loans for private prison companies. The data used to support this claim is the fact

that at least eight banks have said they won’t write new loans for private prison companies and
are limiting their engagement with such companies. The warrant is that banks should stop

supporting private prisons. The backing to this are the inhumane conditions inside of private

prisons, prisoner’s lack of access to healthcare and other basic needs, and public outrage of the

injustices of private prisons. The rebuttal is that the article addresses the other banks that have no

plans to stop loaning money to the prison companies. Geo Group, one of the largest private

prison companies in the world states that “the bank divestment efforts are based on a false

narrative that is a deliberate mischaracterization of our role as a long standing government

service provider.”

I believe my source is credible because CBS is a long standing, well received, national

news source. The article talked to many knowledgeable people who are involved in the issue and

provided transcripts and date to back their claims. Even so, there still may be biases present, one

being that they mostly talked to people that are against to private prisons than for, although they

did talk to people from both sides. I do believe the bias was handled ethically because they did

talk to the private prison groups themselves and allowed them to defend themselves against the

many claims against them. The stakeholders in this topic are the banks, activists, and private

prison companies.

Work Cited
Layne, Rachel. “Private Prisons Were Supposed to Thrive under Trump - Then Came a

Backlash.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 29 July 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/private-

prison-companies-were-supposed-to-thrive-under-trump-instead-theyre-under-fire/.